{"id":57,"date":"2007-02-26T19:30:34","date_gmt":"2007-02-26T19:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.the-finance-zone.co.uk\/?p=57"},"modified":"2007-02-26T19:30:34","modified_gmt":"2007-02-26T19:30:34","slug":"insurers-push-european-stocks-to-6-year-highs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/the-finance-zone.co.uk\/index.php\/2007\/02\/26\/insurers-push-european-stocks-to-6-year-highs\/","title":{"rendered":"Insurers push European stocks to 6-year highs"},"content":{"rendered":"
Gains for insurers helped push European stocks to fresh six-year highs on Monday, although the advance was limited by a retreat in the drugs sector.<\/p>\n

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 index rose 6.65 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 1,550.36.<\/p>\n

Allianz<\/font><\/a><\/strong> led insurance stocks higher as analysts scrambled to upgrade the stock after a strong set of results last week.<\/div>\n

Credit Suisse and UBS both raised their price targets while Merrill Lynch upped its rating from \u00e2\u20ac\u0153neutral\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153buy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.<\/p>\n

JPMorgan, meanwhile, described the stock as the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153cheapest big-cap in Europe\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as it raised its forecast for 2008 earnings per share by 15 per cent. Allianz rose 3 per cent to \u00e2\u201a\u00ac169.<\/p>\n

Axa<\/strong><\/font><\/a> <\/strong><\/span>also remained in favour following its own sparkling set of figures last week, and its shares added 2.7 per cent to \u00e2\u201a\u00ac34.42.<\/p>\n

Merrill Lynch reiterated its \u00e2\u20ac\u0153buy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d stance on the stock with a price objective raised from \u00e2\u201a\u00ac37.20 to \u00e2\u201a\u00ac39.<\/p>\n

In the reinsurance sector, Scor<\/font><\/a><\/strong> launched a hostile $2bn bid for the shares it does not already own in Switzerland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Converium<\/font><\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Last week, Converium rejected a merger approach from Scor, saying the offer price was too low, after the French company bought nearly a third of the shares for SFr21 each.<\/p>\n

For every Converium share, the French company is now offering 0.5 new Scor shares plus SFr4 in cash, which is equivalent to SFr21.10 a share.<\/p>\n

Scor fell 2.7 per cent to \u00e2\u201a\u00ac20.65 while Converium ended 0.9 per cent higher at SFr21.80.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in the sector, Swiss Re <\/font><\/a><\/strong>rose 3.1 per cent to SFr108.80 and Munich Re<\/strong><\/font><\/a> <\/strong><\/span>added 2.5 per cent to \u00e2\u201a\u00ac128.54. Both companies are due to report later this week.<\/p>\n

Oil stocks were broadly higher following a spike in crude prices. Total<\/font><\/a><\/strong> added 1.5 per cent to \u00e2\u201a\u00ac53.66 and Eni<\/span><\/strong><\/span> rose 1.9 per cent to \u00e2\u201a\u00ac24.20.<\/p>\n

But there was pain for investors in the pharmaceuticals sector after three of Europe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s leading companies were beset by clinical and regulatory problems.<\/p>\n

Novo Nordisk <\/font><\/a><\/strong>fell 5.4 per cent to DKr485.50 after the Danish group abandoned plans to sell its Novo Seven drug as a treatment for brain haemorrhages after disappointing clinical trial results.<\/p>\n

Dresdner Kleinwort retained its \u00e2\u20ac\u0153sell\u00e2\u20ac\u009d rating on the stock and cut its target price from DKr400 to DKr380, and also recommended switching into Bayer<\/font><\/a><\/strong>, up 1 per cent to \u00e2\u201a\u00ac45.07.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We continue to argue that Bayer provides much of the same defensive characteristics in the sector,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said analyst Tero Weckroth. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Specifically, both companies are free of major patent expiries over the next few years and have high exposure to biologicals. But in contrast to Novo, one can buy into Bayer at a cheap valuation.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Novartis<\/font><\/a><\/strong> fell 1.7 per cent to SFr70.95 after the US Food and Drug Administration requested additional data on the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Galvus diabetes drug.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153In a worst case scenario, the FDA\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s request for clinical data could delay Galvus\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 approval by two years,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Alexandra Hauber at Bear Stearns, adding: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Galvus represents 3 per cent of our 2010 group operating profit forecast.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Roche<\/font><\/a><\/strong> also suffered after it suspended enrolment into clinical trials of its Mircera anaemia treatment. The shares slipped 0.9 per cent to SFr222.50.<\/p>\n

Real estate stocks also came under selling pressure. Metrovacesa<\/font><\/a><\/strong> led the way with a drop of 8 per cent to \u00e2\u201a\u00ac93.50, as sentiment towards the Spanish stock remained weak following last Monday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s announcement that the company would be split in two.<\/p>\n

Rodamco Europe<\/font><\/a><\/strong>, the Dutch property group, fell 5.7 per cent to \u00e2\u201a\u00ac110.10 after its full-year results disappointed the market.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Arcelor Mittal<\/strong><\/font><\/a>,<\/strong><\/span> the world\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s biggest steelmaker, rose 3.9 per cent to \u00e2\u201a\u00ac41.01 amid ongoing talk about further consolidation in the industry.<\/p>\n

Ericsson<\/font><\/a><\/strong>, the Swedish telecoms equipment group, gained 0.4 per cent to SKr26 after offering SKr9.8bn for Norway\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Tandberg Television<\/font><\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

As part of the Swedish group\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s drive into internet protocol television, the offer represented an 18 per cent premium to Tandberg\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s volume-weighted average over the last three months, and was 10.4 per cent higher than a bid from Arris Group of the US. Tandberg shares climbed 11.7 per cent to NKr112.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gains for insurers helped push European stocks to fresh six-year highs on Monday, although the advance was limited by a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stock-exchange"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-finance-zone.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-finance-zone.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-finance-zone.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-finance-zone.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-finance-zone.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/the-finance-zone.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-finance-zone.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-finance-zone.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-finance-zone.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}